House approves resolution calling to remove Trump by 25th Amendment
13 January 2021
In a vote of 223-205, the House of Representatives on Tuesday night approved a resolution calling on Vice President Pence to remove President Trump from office by invoking the 25 Amendment.
Why it matters: The resolution — introduced by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) — is highly symbolic, as it does not bind Pence to take action, but it looks to pressure the vice president.
- Simultaneously, the House is moving forward with impeachment and will hold a vote to impeach Trump for a second time on Wednesday.
- Pence said on Tuesday that he will not invoke the 25th Amendment t0 remove Trump from office because it would "set a terrible precedent."
- An Axios-Ipsos poll taken last week found that 8 in 10 Republicans opposed removing Trump from office for inciting his supporters to storm the Capitol.
The big picture: House Democrats on Monday introduced an article of impeachment against Trump for inciting a mob of his supporters to prevent the certification of President-elect Biden.
- Trump said that his remarks telling his supporters to walk to the Capitol to stop the certification were "totally appropriate."
The other side: HouseRepublicans had blocked an unanimous consent request to take up the resolution, with Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) saying he opposed Democrats passing a "resolution of this magnitude" without a debate.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.